Unbreakable
by Cherry Punch
Summary: Quinn is half monster, half mortal. That's all she's ever been. But now she's finding out a whole new side of the story. She needs to find the rest of her people before Kronos finds her. She was born a fighter, but will it break the unbreakable?
1. Chapter 1

_Quinn raced beside Delia, running as fast as she could to stay caught up with the older girl. Delia was arguing with Percy about where they went next. Percy kept insisting on Olympus._

"_No, they'll all be dead by now."_

"_How can you say that? They're our _family_, Delia. They would have put up a fight!"_

"_Percy," she shouted with desperation. "Anyone who survived would've had to flee. That's the only option! And the ones who fled aren't worth going back for."_

"_No, I believe in them."_

"_Well it's sweet that you think that, Perce."_

"_Listen to me for like two seconds!"_

_Quinn stumbled over an overgrown root and fell, completely exhausted. She was only six and she had been going full blast all day. The older two had forgotten she was still just a kid. She yawned and rubbed her eyes with weak fists. _

_Percy crouched down and sat next to her. Hopefully the sound of the wind in the leaves would cover their noise, and the forest canopy would stop them from being seen from above. Quinn crawled into his lap and yawned again before snuggling closer to his chest. He wrapped his arms around her protectively while Delia leaned against a tree across from them._

"_We have to come up with something, Perce," she murmured in a strangled voice. "I want them to have won as much as you but let's face it; we weren't strong enough. Going back to Olympus would be a death sentence."_

_Percy glanced up at the defeated looking daughter of Thanatos. Somewhere, deep down he knew she was right. They hadn't done enough to prepare for Kronos' second attack. What had they been doing after he became the supposed 'Hero of Olympus'? Partying it up and letting their guard down. After six years, they thought they were safe. How wrong could they be?_

_Percy heaved a heavy sigh, shifting the little girl on his chest over slightly. He tightened his grip on her slightly, laying her head back over his heart. _

"_What do you think we should do, Dell?"_

_She leaned her head back and tucked her arms behind her. Blinking against the pathetic sun's rays she let out a scolding, judging 'hmph'. _

"_I don't know. Let's get married."_

"_Annabeth wouldn't like that."_

"_Yeah, well. When we find her I'm sure she'll understand. We practically have a kid together."_

_They both looked down at Quinn who was fast asleep on Percy. A small smile crept over both their faces._

"_You know, I think before all this she would've made a really good hero." _

"_Yeah," Percy agreed. "But, you think she'd be fine even though, you know…"_

_Delia took in the girl again. Stitches as wide as her mouth were scattered over her green skin. Her hair was a vibrant purple that framed her little face. More than once Delia had fallen victim to the girls puppy eyes, the brightest shade of yellow boring right into your soul. _

"_Yeah, I think so. Remember, this is in the perfect world. No Kronos, no 'end of the world', none of that. It'd just be camp, you, me, and everyone."_

"_Probably no gods," Percy told her. Her black eyes met his impossibly green ones. _

"_Probably no gods," she agreed. _

Quinn hid in the cover of the tree tops. She struggled to keep her breathing under control or at least at a level where no one would be able to hear her. Annabeth grabbed her hand and squeezed it reassuringly. Her other hand was wrapped around the hilt of her old knife, effectively stealing any reassurance Quinn had. Their backs were pressed against the thick trunk of the oak tree. Hesitantly, Annabeth dared to peer around the protection of the leaves. A cold bead of sweat ran down the side of her face. She pulled Quinn closer, wrapping her arm around the girl's waist.

Quinn desperately hoped the camouflage bandana was enough to hide her royal purple hair. Her skin should have looked like leaves, but her hair was a dead giveaway. She closed her eyes tight, hoping their color hadn't been seen yet.

"I think we're fine," Annabeth told her adoptive daughter after a few moments of tense silence. She stayed balanced on the tree branch and pulled her arm back to her side. The moon cast a shallow light. Quinn sighed with relief. They had been tracked for days now, nonstop. Finally, a brake. She sat down, thoroughly in need of rest. Annabeth climbed up a little further to see if she could get a better view.

There was a rustling in the thick foliage at the end of the branch. Quinn jerked her head up and saw a few leaves move. Her hand reached back into her pocket where her fingers curled around Riptide. She uncapped it, enveloped in the dim light of the celestial bronze.

"Μαμά? Θείος Nico? Μείνε εκεί που είσαι ... "she whispered.

The rustling continued, despite Quinn's request to stay put. She slowly stood up holding Riptide in a fighting grip.

"Κρατήστε σε ένα δεύτερο," she murmured.

From the cover of the leaves burst a black, eyeless figure. Its head looked like a skull with leathery skin pulled taught over it. At the mouth the skin pulled into a toothless mouth that was as dark as Tartarus. It moved with blinding speed, crashing into the girl before she could blink. A leathery wing smacked her off balance before her brain could send the message to her arm to move. She pin wheeled her arms in fear before crying out and falling. She screamed loudly to her mother, hoping she would be able to catch her in time. She didn't.

"Quinn, no!" Annabeth screeched hoarsely. In desperation, she dove off the branch after her girl. Every time Quinn hit a branch, Annabeth winced. _Oh, gods_ she thought. Quinn twisted around to see the ground rushing up on her. But even faster was the thickest branch yet. She barely had time to look back up at Annabeth before she slammed into the rough wood.

Annabeth tried in vain to ignore the sound of her daughter splintering the wood on one of the bottom branches. She reached out and wrapped her hands around a branch to stop herself. From there, she climbed down an endless amount of redundant tree limbs at the speed of light before she reached a bleeding Quinn.

Annabeth's fingers were covered with blood the moment they found the young girls bandana. She sobbed and pressed Quinn's unconscious head to her chest. She leaned against a tree with Quinn on her lap.

For a second, Annabeth wished she had ambrosia or nectar, but even before she could remind herself the supply had long run out she remembered Quinn was not a half-blood. In all technicality, she was a monster. The food of the gods would destroy her in an instant. The only thing she could do was stop the bleeding and then wait for someone to come find them.

The monster up in the tree disappeared. It traveled through the darkness to its leader to let him know of what it had learned. When it's shadowy form recollected, it was far away, in the ruins of New York City. To be specific, the top of what was formally the Empire State Building and Olympus. It trudged across the blackened and dead landscape, its bird like claw feet crunching on old grey grass and age old olive leaves. Soon enough it reached the demolished bronze doors of the throne room. It walked in almost eagerly to face its master.

In the middle of the room, where the old hearth once stood, a huge black and gold throne was stationed. It looked that much bigger compared to the mortal man who lounged in it. His black hair blended in subtly with his throne. His eyes were a shocking golden, but there was a very, very thin ring of green around the unnatural color.

"What do you want?" His voice was like knives on a stone. Cold and heartless.

It was hard to believe Kronos' new body was formally Percy Jackson.


	2. Chapter 2

Nico raced through the woods, leaping around over roots and ducking under low lying tree limbs. It was a hard search. He couldn't shout out for them. It was risky just making this much noise.

He ran for hours hoping one of the others was having better luck. The sun was letting a little light trickle through the leaves. He stopped for a break. Panting, he turned his head up towards the light. One beam found its way down to him and warmed his pale skin. He took deep breaths while taking in the picture perfect beauty of the fall leaves turning fairy tale colors that just didn't exist in the world anymore. Kronos had won. The fight was over.

Nico looked down, at the bases of each huge tree. Over. They had lost. They had lost Delia and Juniper and Connor and Percy. Percy. Nico clenched his teeth. That was why he was out here. Somewhere out there, Annabeth and Quinn, Percy's girls, were probably fighting to stay alive. Who knew what kind of monsters had gotten to them.

He looked up, a fire burning in his eyes. He took off again, sprinting with a new energy to find them. The easiest thing he could do was remember. That was what kept him going.

"_Nico! Percy's back!"_

_Nico got up from his couch and saw an ecstatic Annabeth sprinting off the porch towards Thalia's tree. He followed her, running the whole way. Pretty soon, Percy and Delia's forms were outlined in the light. The two were standing protectively around someone. No, something. The creature rested on Delia's hip. Its head rested on her shoulder. The closer he got, the more he recognized the look in both of their eyes. Adoration. Protectiveness. Love. Emotions he had just began to become familiar with. He came to a stop next to Annabeth who was watching confused as Delia handed off the humanoid monster to Percy. He realized the thing was sleeping. Percy smiled hugely and pressed a finger to his lips. He then motioned for them to come closer. _

_Nico edged forward carefully to get a better look. As he did, the thing stirred and opened its sleepy yellow eyes. Delia reached over and pushed its chin length purple hair out of its face. Behind the soft locks, a gentle green skinned child's face was peering shyly at everything. She wrapped stitched up arms around Percy's neck slowly before falling asleep again. He chuckled and his breathe sent a few stands of her hair in a gentle breeze. _

"_This is Quinn," Delia whispered, rubbing her thumb protectively over the little girl's cheek. "We found her in Central Park scared out of her mind. We felt so bad, we couldn't leave her."_

"_Quinn," Nico choked, still confused as to why they had brought the obvious monster to camp. And why they had dressed her in little white shorts and pink t-shirt. _

"_Yeah. She ran over to us crying, and looking over her shoulder. So naturally Percy picked her up and we got the Hades outta there. Thanks gods for the mist. We brought her to his moms place to see if she knew what to do. This one's clothes were wrecked too, so we wanted to see if she had anything. Turns out she didn't, but she had mortal money so we got her some stuff. And when we were coming back to camp, we decided to name her Quinn, cause she looks like a Quinn."_

_They all stared at Delia after her redundant story about the naming of the monster. _

"_She's staying," Percy said firmly after seeing the disbelief in everyone's eyes. _

"_Percy, she's a monster. She can't stay here," Annabeth said nervously. _

"_She's not a monster, Annabeth! Look at her! She couldn't hurt a fly!"_

"_No, Percy. I'm sorry but-"she looked at Quinn and her eyes widened. Those big yellow eyes were back, staring up at her framed by think lashes. Her lip was quivering. A little whimper rang from the back of her throat. _

"_Oh, no no no baby! I didn't mean it! No, come here," Annabeth babbled, reaching out and holding Quinn tight. She rocked her back and forth while the little girl cried softly into her shoulder, but before long she was asleep. Delia took her baby back and marched off towards the Hades Cabin, where she stayed because she didn't have one. It took Nico a second to realize what she was doing._

"_Woah, woah, woah! That thing is not staying with us," Nico demanded. _

"_This thing's name is Quinn, bone head. And yes she is."_

"_She's. A. Monster. Delia."_

"_No, she's a sweet little girl. You'll warm up to her soon enough."_

"_Delia. No."_

"_Nico. Yes."_

Nico kicked it up a few gears, practically flying through the forest. He decided to take a risk.

"Annabeth! Annabeth! Quinn!" His shouts resonated off the trees and pierced the silent morning's peace.

"Quinn! Annabeth!" The echoes threw themselves at him. He paused hearing something that wasn't him.

"Nico!" It was faint, but it was there.

"Annabeth," he shouted.

There was a moment, a long moment before, "Nico!"

He took off again yelling, desperate for her voice. He sheathed his sword, hoping he would not need it. Though, as soon as he did a second persons footsteps were crunching down on the crisped leaves just an arm's length away from him.

He had just enough time to grab the hilt and swing it across his body before the Deada exposed its shadowy form. The stygian iron passed through the listless form of the monster. The Deada only faltered slightly. Nico cursed under his breath. These creatures were created to be able to fight without dying. A blade meant to reap souls would have no effect on them.

A clawed hand was raised on the end of the thin wing. It slashed down at Nico, narrowly missing his chest. He continued to slash his sword and dodge the claws that were designed for shredding. One thing about the Deada that made them easy to beat: they got bored easily. As long as they didn't see blood, they would leave just as quickly as they had showed up.

Nico's plan was destroyed when a second Deada came to help his companion. Nico was more than confident in his ability to fight them both at once, but his earlier pursuit was their downfall.

"Nico," Annabeth screeched from the distance. Nico's eyes grew wide. The second monster turned its blind head sharply in the direction of her voice.

"No!" It shot off, leaving Nico to fight its beastly friend himself. He panicked. He had already assumed something was wrong, someone was hurt, when Annabeth and Quinn didn't return to their base camp. Something that was broken or sprained wouldn't have been enough to keep them from coming home. Something was bleeding. Bleeding enough to keep them from coming home. Blood meant a vicious Deada.

In desperation, Nico changed the angle of the blade. He positioned it right above the leather of his jacket, over his left arm. With one swift motion he pulled the blade through the black leather and his skin. He yanked the jacket of and rubbed the blood over his bare arm. It worked, the Deada were know trying with new motive to kill him. 


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: I do not own PJO**

* * *

><p>"Annabeth! Annabeth! Quinn!"<p>

Annabeth jerked her head up at the familiar voice. Her gray eyes stung at the new days light but she didn't notice.

"Quinn! Annabeth!"

She blinked a few times. Someone had found them, finally. The bleeding had stopped sometime in the night. Not before Quinn had lost a lot of blood though. She had remained unconscious for most of the night, only waking for a few seconds at a time. Annabeth needed to get her help. She decided if she didn't return his call, Quinn would be dead long before the Deada could get to them.

"Nico!" She cried. The echo was ominous. For a few frightening seconds Annabeth feared he had gone. She sighed with giddy relief when her name bounced back to her.

"Oh, Quinny. You're gonna be okay," she whispered. She took a deep breath and called out, "Nico! Nico!" every time her name found its way to its owner. But then, after a few minutes of this, her name was lost. She strained to hear; maybe he had just started to be cautious. They had been running a huge risk being so loud. Deada had a better sense of hearing than most monsters. Still, the time grew longer and she grew more anxious. After a life time of sitting in the silence Annabeth decided she needed his voice at this point.

"Nico!" She leaned forward as she shouted hoping to throw her voice that much farther. Quinn groaned quietly before falling back into a deep slumber. Annabeth was shaking. No, the silence was maddening. It reminded her of earlier times, back in the beginning when fear was the only thing you could trust to stay faithful.

"_Delia Watson. Thalia Grace. Connor Stoll. Percy Jackson…" The hard voice continued to read off the names of the dead. Annabeth froze at the mention of her fiancé. Percy…? No, no it was wrong. Percy was fine! He had to be! _

_Nico touched her shoulder mournfully. She was shaking hard, but the tears found their way straight down her face. _

"_No…No, no, NO!" she screamed and collapsed, Nico falling down to his knees with her. He wrapped her in a hug and held her close, knowing that was what she needed at the moment no matter how much she didn't want it._

_Not Percy. Of all of them, why Percy? _

_She continued to cry and scream and shake, but somewhere a little sliver of the rational part of her brain was still working the way it should. _

_Delia and Percy were gone. Delia and Percy were with Quinn last time she saw them. What about Quinn? Where was she? Annabeth knew, right there and then, without Percy, life was going to be practically worthless. But without Quinn…without Quinn Annabeth had nothing. Without Annabeth, Quinn had nothing. She needed to find the girl. _

_She tuned into the steely voice beyond her sobs, praying desperately to gods who were worth nothing now that among the dead who were getting this pathetic funeral which was nothing more than a reading of names, Quinn was not one of them. _

_When Nico's arms left her, Annabeth found being alone was not what she needed right now. She looked around the crowd hoping to find him again. When she finally did, he was crouched next to a girl who couldn't be more than six. She could recognize that girl anywhere. _

_A second later, Annabeth was holding Quinn tight in her arms, squeezing her eyes so tightly the rest of the world could not penetrate her bubble of protection. For that moment, she pretended it was just her and Quinn and they were safe back in the Poseidon cabin with Percy._

_But sooner or later, she had to open her eyes and see the western world in turmoil, far away from camp. She had to face the fact it was her and Quinn now. That fact just made more tears flow._

"_It's going to be okay, baby. Don't worry, I've got you. Mommy's here. I'm going make it better."_

Annabeth stroked the soft green skin on her daughter's cheek. It was one of the only places that wasn't covered with blood. She sniffed and rubbed the back of her hand over the tip of her nose quickly.

"It's going to be okay, baby. Don't worry, I've got you. Mommy's here. I'm going to make it better."

Annabeth looked out, still praying to worthless gods that somehow Nico was okay.

Nico didn't realize this, but the gods weren't as worthless as any of them thought. He swiped his blade in every way he knew how do deflect the blood thirsty monsters.

Nico also started praying. He prayed to Delia and his father that death would be swift after one of the Deada knocked his blade out of his hand. He closed his eyes, not necessarily wanting to see how he was going to be killed.

Skylla stopped cold.

_Go left _a voice hissed in her mind.

She whipped left, running like she had never run before. Her bandaged arms pumped like it would make her go faster. She dodged the giant and thinly set trees while the light left her in and out of broken shadows.

She slipped the bow off her shoulder and set a celestial bronze tipped arrow on the string. She reached a clearing and pulled back the arrow. Her gauzed thumb touched the tip of her wrapped mouth.

Skylla aimed past Nico to the closest Deada.

When she released the arrow whistled past Nico's ear and pierced the throat of the Deada. It screeched angrily before dissipating into the shadows. The second Deada averted its attention to Skylla who was notching another arrow. Nico scrambled anxiously to his feet and ran over to his sword. He stood up shakily and turned to thank Skylla. But the words caught in his throat. The Deada had managed to get close enough to claw Skylla across her bandaged chest. The brunette was on the ground, not as worried about the shallow cut as she was about the uncomfortable closeness of the Deada. She pushed herself backwards in a hasty attempt to get enough distance between her and the monster so she could properly fire her bow. By the beast was relentless. It edged up on her every time she scooted back. She glanced at Nico and the fear in her eyes was undeniable.

He tightened his grip on the sword and charged forward. His plan was simple. Get the Deada to follow him, at least as far as she needed to kill it. He got right behind it and sliced his sword into the claw of the beast. It was one of the only solid parts of a Deada.

The shadowy creature twisted it's head to look at him.

"Come on, it's me you want, you demented freak!"

The Deada noticed the strong scent of blood and forgot about the weaker source in front of him.

Nico back away slowly, making sure the monster would be able to catch onto his scent. Suddenly, the creature lunged forward, securing it's claws onto his startled shoulders.

Skylla pulled back the arrow and closed one eye.

Annabeth heard the sudden shriek of a Deada. A few minutes later another coiled around her mind.

_Oh, Nico. Please be safe._


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: I do not own PJO**

Skylla crouched on the balls of her feet, head down, trying to breathe easy. She looked over at Nico who was sprawled out in the leaves attempting to do the same thing she was. Just breathe.

"Did you find them?" He asked between breaths. She shook her head.

He swallowed hard. "Annabeth! Annabeth!"

Skylla looked at him like he had gone mad. She darted forward and clamped her bandaged hand over his mouth. Her glare warned him to be quiet.

"Nico? Nico!" Skylla looked out into the woods. She took her hand off his mouth and he sat up.

"Annabeth," he shouted. The two waited in still quiet.

"Nico!"

Nico grabbed her hand and pulled her to her feet. He took off in the direction of Annabeth's voice. Skylla followed close behind. They blew past falling leaves and unnaturally big oak trees. Nico and Annabeth continued to shout each other's names, clinging to the fact the other was close.

Skylla managed to pass Nico, frantic to get to the lost girls. She hissed in a failed effort to do what Nico was doing.

They ran for what seemed like forever until they soared past a small patch of gold and green huddled at the base of one of the never ending trees. Nico dug his heels into the ground and wheeled around. Skylla was immediately aware of a strong familiar blood.

"Annabeth! Oh my gods," Nico exclaimed.

He kneeled down next to her and looked, horrified, at the gash on the side of Quinn's head.

He looked Annabeth in the eye.

"We're going to get you two home."

_Quinn looked down at the broken body of her mother. Off to the right her father's body was bloody and damaged, cut and bruised and dead. Tears gathered on her chin and dripped down, kissing her mother's temple. _

"_Mama…Mama wake up," she said, shaking Delia carefully. "Wake up. Wake up," she said a little louder. _

"_Quinn, my baby girl," Delia whispered. A small smile graced her face, behind the blood stained lips. "It's time for me to go home," she continued. She gripped Quinn's hand weakly, but stronger than one could want from the dying woman. _

"_Home?" Quinn asked, sniffling._

"_Yeah, baby. I need to go to my daddy, now. You need to go to yours," she said with another smile. Quinn glanced again at her dad. He was long gone, broken and now she was going to be alone. Didn't her mother see that he wasn't waking up?_

"_Quinny, Quinn look at me. Now listen. You are the bravest girl I've even known. I'm so proud of you. I'm so happy your daddy and I found you. Now, you need to be the hero I know you can be. I know you can do it! You're so strong and kind and beautiful. You are important," Delia said quietly, emphasizing every word of the last sentence. "And you need to go on without me. You and your daddy, okay? Promise me."_

"_I-I pro-promise mama."_

"_That's my girl," Delia whispered before the light left her eyes and she went with her father to be in the underworld forever. _

Quinn opened her eyes slowly. She was being moved somewhere, cradled in a temporary stretcher. Her eyes peered up at the forest canopy catching every ray of light they could find. She blinked up and imagined her father and mother's laughter in the whispers of the leaves. She could practically see her mother's jet black hair let down, curly and full and happy. She could see the light that lived in her eyes, the paleness of her skin.

Quinn turned her head, not wanting to be reminded of what had past. Her eyes widened slightly when she saw Annabeth sprinting beside her, her blonde curls pulled back in a ponytail and rocking with every step. Her gray eyes shone with determination and worry. Despite the lack of sun light lately, her skin was tan as if she spent every day basking in the warmth.

"Mom," Quinn said hoarsely. "Mom."

Annabeth looked at her, never breaking her pace. Her hand closed around Quinn's and she squeezed it slightly. She said something Quinn couldn't hear. She tried to focus, but the sound of her parents laughter in the wind was over whelming. The more she focused, the more she fell into darkness. She closed her eyes and they didn't open for quite a while.

Annabeth's frown deepened as she watched Quinn fall back out of reality.

"Annabeth!"

She snapped her head around to look at Nico.

"If you take over for Skylla, she might be able to get Sophos to meet us half way."

Annabeth considered this before nodding. She took Skylla's place at the front of the stretcher and watched her take off. She leapt into the darkness of the forest with a resonating hiss. She slowed down for a moment and closed her eyes. It usually took her a second to get into her 'anguis' form without completely taking off her bandages.

Her eyes shot open but this time instead of a calm blue they were a piercing snake eye. She started out jogging but soon enough she was going faster than a viper attacking it's pray. Every tree she past she left a deep claw mark in so she could find her way back should she get lost.

Sophos stood at the edge of camp, fingering a too red leaf. Colors this vibrant didn't exist beyond this forest anymore. They had been to this forest many times and stayed here the longest. Still, every time he was shocked at the sheer amount of _life. _It seemed like the world survived on gray and black. Though, it didn't really survive anymore. It struggled to keep its head above freezing water.

He looked down and scowled at his black t-shirt, black jeans, and black shoes. He hated that this was the only way to live.

Just as he was about to curse his clothes, again, Skylla sprinted from the shadows into the clearing. She rocked back on the heels of her boots off to his right.

"Hey stranger," he said with a grin. She didn't smile back. That was okay with him. He didn't say things so people would smile. It wasn't like he would be able to tell if she did. Skylla was wrapped with gauze from the bridge of her nose down, and only a few people knew why. Her blue eyes were filled with adrenaline and anxiety.

"What's wrong," he asked, the smile melting off his face. "Where's Nico? What happened to you?" he pushed, noticing the cut across her collar bone. She shook her head; she wasn't the one who needed help. She walked over to him and grabbed the necklace around his neck. Her eyes flicked over each one of the beads before she pinched one carefully between her fingers and showed it to him. It was made of smooth green stone, and 'νέοι πλάσμα' was carved in delicate gold.

He looked at her, all joking light out of his eyes.

"What happened to Quinn?"

To answer him, she jogged back into the forest. He followed her and when he reached her, they ran off following her claw marks.


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: I do not own PJO**

"Annabeth," Sophos said, exhausted and smiling.

"Sophos! How is she? Is she going to be-"

"Okay? Yeah. When she wakes up, she'll be good as new. And when I wake up, it'll be next month."

The child of Apollo curled up right there in the middle of the clearing and fell into a deep, coma-like sleep.

* * *

><p>Quinn rubbed the side of her bandaged head, wincing slightly at the dull pain that throbbed against her brain.<p>

"Well, don't do that," Misty told her, a joking smile gently spread across her face.

"It feels kind of good," Quinn mumbled, continuing to press her skull.

"Hey, you little sadist," Misty teased taking a firm grip on Quinn's green wrists and holding them together with one blue hand. Quinn looked back with big, yellowy-golden eyes that seemed to get brighter each day. Or duller. Misty was having trouble finding the line between them. "Sophos said you can leave if you want to. So, where do you want to go?"

"Let's go to the lake," Quinn said immediately.

"Okay, to the lake we go."

Misty walked barefoot next to Quinn, enjoying the feeling of the leaves crunching underneath her feet. It wouldn't last forever. The first snow was dangerously close to greeting them.

They walked between canvas tents that peaked a few feet over Misty's head. Every once in a while, someone would greet them and they would return in warmly. It wasn't every day someone spoke to them who didn't know them closely. While it was true everyone maintained a certain amount of respect for Misty, for more than one person there was a grudging reluctance tagged on with it. She had a position of relatively high power in their society. But at the same time she was a hybrid monster. To a lot of people who were new to the whole concept of Greek gods, monsters were bad and humans were good and apparently when they were mixed together the result was always bad in some people's eyes.

More than that, some people went as far as to be disgusted by the small lot of them because they didn't do anything to blend in. The only exception was Skylla who had to wrap her entire body in gauze to hide the scaly black skin that was patched over ordinary pale flesh. Misty didn't even know how she hid her hair; she assumed it was all in the concentration, but she couldn't be sure.

Quinn wasn't blind to it either. Every once in a while when there was a new family or single addition it was nearly impossible to ignore the nervous glances and untrusting glares that bore into her back when they assumed she wasn't looking. A lot of the time that meant she had to stick with Misty and Skylla and Candy, Lykaon, and Apophis. At least they were the same thing she was. In a way. Quinn really didn't know what she was. She was obviously not human, but she had never heard of a monster like her. Her mother had described her as a hybrid. She really didn't know what exactly she meant by that.

The hill just before the lake rose up before them. Misty was so engrossed in her thoughts and Quinn was so busy just wandering in silence neither one of them realized they were scaling it until the aging wood of the dock groaned in protest under their weight.

The lake was one of the most brilliant things about the forest. The water sparkled crystal blue and clear so you could see the bottom fifty feet down. But on days like this, days where the sun refused to shine behind the cover of the silver clouds, the water was an enchanting smoky gray. The farther out on the dock you went, the stranger it became. And the more beautiful.

Misty watched her reflection in the water. It was placid and she stared back at herself through pale, pale blue eyes. Next to her Quinn's worn converse dangled above the lake, inches above the water.

Just to amuse her, Misty extended her leg and pointed her toe, emerging it in the icy water. Quinn watched in amazement as ice crept around Misty's cool blue skin and spread out over a small part of the lake. Frost crawled up the wooden posts that supported the ancient dock. Quinn had seen the trick a billion times before but it never seized to amaze her.

In her mind that was the difference between Misty and Apophis and Candy and Lykaon and Skylla: they could do something interesting. Misty had her thing with ice, Apophis was just a little bit more human than he was machine but he got all the pluses of being both. Candy was practically a human chameleon and Lykaon could _fly_ with his white as angel wings. And Skylla, well, Quinn wasn't really sure what she could do. In fact, she had never even seen what was hidden beneath that gauze, but she had to be able to do something impressive if everyone respected her so much.

But Quinn just looked weird. Not to say the others didn't.

Quinn was interrupted in her thoughts by Candy, who shimmered for a second before she could make herself visible again.

"Hey you guys! What's the haps? Oh, Quinny, you did bump you head pretty bad, didn't you?"

Quinn turned and looked up at Candy. My point exactly, she thought. Candy had a dark complexion, a naturally light chocolate. Her face was gentle and defined. On her upper left cheek there was a strange mark, a little white plus sign under her eye. Her hair was white and cut roughly at chin length. She was wearing a forest green tank top and khaki shorts.

"Yeah, I fell out of a tree."

Candy glanced at Misty who gave her a look like _Let's talk later._

"Well, that was smart."

"It's not like I meant to," Quinn defended getting irritated.

"Woah, there. I was kidding."

"Whatever," she grumbled. Candy gave her a disbelieving look when she turned back around to stare at the lake. Misty tapped her foot and gave her the same look.

"Oh, well, I haven't seen you in forever. Don't I get a hug or something?"

Quinn looked back around at Candy who was standing, arms extended an unhappy look on her face. Misty snickered. Quinn got up and wrapped her arms around Candy's waist. Candy hugged her back tight and though she would never admit it to anyone, she probably liked having that hug more than she had liked anything.

"Sun's going down. We should start heading back."


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer: I do not own PJO**

Skylla shoved an extra shirt in her backpack. Normally, the final hunt was a really fun thing for her. She could let go and not have to worry about the stupid mortals freaking out about how she looked. It was just her and the other 'freaks'. But this time Quinn was coming. It had only been a few weeks since she had been attacked by the Deada. Skylla hadn't wanted her to come at all but Candy was going to fight to her last breathe to make sure she went. So, once Sophos had decided it was fine for her to go they had all started packing.

Skylla did one final mental check before sighing and leaving the warmth of her tent. Outside, the snow was falling heavily. It didn't stop her group was waiting in it, all of them watching the sky. A huge grin was spread over Apophis' face like the idiot he was.

"I love snow," he said while Candy and Lykaon stretched out their tongues trying to catch the precious flakes. Quinn watched them with an excited light in her eyes. Skylla felt like she was making the most ridiculous decision of her life taking such a young girl on such a dangerous trip. Quinn was only twelve.

"_I was thirteen when we first went on this trip," Candy said, crossing her arms over her chest. _

_Doesn't matter, you're different Skylla signed. _

_Somehow, the light glow of the snow made Candy look that much fiercer. Skylla didn't doubt it did the same to her. _

"_When are you going to stop being so controlling? What are you afraid of?"_

"_You know damn well what I'm afraid of," Skylla hissed._

"_Skylla! Give the girl some breathing room! You say you're protecting her, but you're only making it worse!"_

"_Can you promissse me? Can you ssswear we won't lossse her again?"_

_Candy stared at her, trying to see around the tears welling up in Skylla's eyes. It was hard to fight an enemy you knew was so vulnerable. She had been raised believing that was cheating._

"_No, I can't. But you need to be able to trust she can fend for herself."_

"_She couldn't fight off that Deada, what makesss you think she'll do any better when they're not just wandersss? What about when they sssend them to get usss? She'sss not ssstrong enough."_

"_Yes she is! You need to see that, Sky! You need to want to see it!"_

Three weeks later Skylla looked over at Quinn who was crouched in the brush. A white hooded sweatshirt was pulled up over her forehead and the few spots of her skin that were visible were tucked behind a thin white turtleneck. The only thing Skylla could see was her eyes. That was good. They couldn't risk the deer noticing them.

Quinn's knife was held firm in her hand. Skylla had her bow but Quinn couldn't use a bow for her life. It didn't matter to her. Her blades were enough.

Skylla edged forward leaving Quinn confused. She was going to scare away the deer. It was a big one too. They would be able to get enough meat off of it to feed everyone back home for a day or two.

Quinn cursed under her breath when the deer froze then bolted. She burst out of the underbrush and darted after it. She was jerked back hard when Skylla grabbed her hood. She hit the ground, sputtering and choking and gagging. She looked up at Skylla, completely dazed and confused.

"What…?"

Skylla pressed a finger to her lips. Carefully she removed the bow from her back, something Quinn found odd seeing as they were in the middle of a hunt. The look in Skylla's eyes made Quinn nervous. She watched as the older girl, women she corrected, pulled the bow back. She left it aiming at the ground. Her eyes scanned the terrain. No rock, no tree, no shadow went unnoticed.

Skylla found that extremely ironic when the Deada leaped from the one shadow that went under her radar.

_Hephaestus grumbled to himself. He ran the tape measurer along the girls arm again. One of the snakes in her hair nipped at him playfully. _

"_Gah! Can you keep those things to yourself?" _

_Skylla's earlier smirk was replaced by a wide-eyed nod and she dropped her eyes. Her arm was starting to ache, she had been holding it out for quite a while. _

"_That just about does it," he said more to himself than to Skylla. She let her arm fall numbly back to her side. She walked just as numbly out of the workshop and into the stone cold hallway. Without looking up once she followed the well known path to her room where she closed the door and flopped back on her bed. The gray ceiling didn't bring any comfort. It practically mocked her, screamed in her ear how little she had. _

_Nothing but her boring bed and prison gray walls. _

_She chewed on the inside of her cheek, glaring at the stupid ceiling in all its stupidity. She hated it. _

_Skylla sat up and looked around quickly. Finally she found it. A piece of charcoal that she had probably tracked in after a trip to the workshop._

_It stained her hand, but she didn't care. At the moment the most important thing was to get rid of the gray. _

_She couldn't tell you how long she wrote on those walls. She stacked things up and wrote on the ceiling too. By the end, she was almost wishing all she had to do was stick her arm out for a little while. She wouldn't have been surprised if it had just fallen off. But when she looked around, she smiled. _

_Her life's story was scripted on the walls, all her thoughts and stories and everything that had ever popped into her head. It was chaotic and horrible and wonderful and Skylla just had to flick back her head and laugh. Her hair, those 'things' that Hephaestus had created and been disgusted by, hissed loudly as if they were laughing too. _

_She opened her eyes and stared up at the ceiling, at the name that was practically carved into the stone._

_**Skylla Kat Hydra: The Girl who Survived**_

She couldn't help the tear that fought its way down her face when she hit the snow covered ground, bow broken and a deep gash across her chest.

Skylla Kat Hydra: The Girl who Survived.

Skylla Kat Hydra: The Girl who Died. 


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer: I do not own PJO**

"_What are you naming her, ma'am?"_

"_I don't care what her name is. She isn't mine," the woman growled. The nurse was shocked, to say the least. She backed out of the room and stopped the doctor who was bringing the baby back to her mother. _

"_Do not bring her in there," the nurse whispered in fear._

_The woman knew what was hidden beneath the mist. A pale, blue-eyed baby with a full head of snakes for hair and patches of black, scaly skin. The woman was shaking with anger, fear and exhaustion. This was not what he had promised her. She had been tricked, she told herself. Tricked into becoming a living incubator for a horrible, monstrous creature. Her hands strangled each other as she glared out the window. She hated everything she saw; all the happy people who got to continue their normal, happy lives free of the gods and whatever in the name of Zeus she had just given birth to. _

_He had promised her the world._

_He had given her another one of his creations._

* * *

><p><em>The girl walked gingerly into the workshop taking gentle steps so she would not step on anything too hard with her bare feet. Her eyes were as sad as they were blue and her hair twisted anxiously in the presence of the god.<em>

"_What is it you want, girl?"_

_She froze, wide-eyed with familiar fear as Hephaestus turned to look at her. His appearance, she had realized long ago, would make most anyone turn and run in fear or grimace in disgust. But to her, it was almost comforting. The simple fact that she was not the most hideous creature in the world. _

"_I-I-"_

"_Spit it out."_

"_I wanted to know if-if I could, maybe, have a name, my lord."_

"_And why would you want that?"_

"_I don't know," she muttered after a second on thought, embarrassed to even be thinking about the absurd subject of names. _

_Hephaestus eyed the girl, taking careful notes on how she was acting in her distress. How she moved, how she fidgeted, how her hair was biting itself as if it thinking if it died it would be free of such an unwanted situation. To be questioned by a god and not have a sufficient answer. _

"_Come here," he said, placing his latest contraption on the work bench in front of him. She shuffled forward trying again to avoid any damage to her feet. When she reached him, he pushed back the snake-hair from her neck. Near them, he looked into a shiny sheet of metal. She followed his gaze and stared at herself. Just below her hair line, there were numbers that she could only think of as the ones you saw on a digital clock. They were black and tattooed into her skin. _

_**147801**_

"_This is your name," he told her, so matter-of-factly she could almost believe it. But she was smarter than that. A name was not a collection of numbers. It was something beautiful and unique and it was perfect. She was already seven and she had started to realize how many people in the mortal world had them, and every god and mythological creature she had ever read about. _

"_But, Lord Hephaessstusss, thisss isss not a name," she said._

"_I don't see why not."_

"_Thisss isss more of a ssserial number," she explained, close to tears. She did not want to be only that: one of his many creations that was labeled only by a collection of random digits._

_He sighed. "Fine, Skylla Kat Hydra," he said. _

_She was surprised at how quickly he had allowed her to have such a label as a name, and how he had picked one out already. _

"_Thank-how-Thank you my lord," she stammered, quickly hurrying out of the room before he could change his mind. _

_Skylla Kay Hydra. _

_She smiled softly to herself before it vanished. _

_She couldn't help but think that name was linked to the mother that had given her up so long ago._

* * *

><p>"<em>Hello, my name is Misty," the blue girl introduced herself with a comforting grin, extending her hand. Skylla took it hesitantly in a firm grip.<em>

"_Skylla. It's nice to meet you," Skylla said, a rare smile forming on her lips. _

* * *

><p>"<em>Skylla, try this on. If it works, everything about you that is less than human should disappear," Hephaestus said placing the black crystal and the silver chain it was connected to into her waiting fingers. His latest invention so she and her 'family' could be able to see their own faces. <em>

_Sometimes she truly believed he cared about them. _

* * *

><p>"<em>Quinn, no," Skylla shrieked.<em>

_The Deada in front of her was eager to silence the eerie voice, and with a vicious swipe with its claw Skylla fell weak and bleeding onto the cold stone floor while the attackers fled with the two-year-old Skylla had come to love._

* * *

><p>"<em>Who are you," Annabeth asked, more than a little unsure of the new comers. The girl, who hadn't spoken at all but who the other one, Misty, had introduced as their leader of sorts, smiled behind her bandages. <em>

"_It'sss the end of the world, Annabeth. I don't think it really mattersss much anymore."_

* * *

><p><em>Skylla was thrown into a maddening pit of confusion. The Deada had managed to slam into the side of her head leaving her dazed and confused. She was only vaguely aware that Quinn was standing over her, fending off the creature with nothing more than her hunting knife. <em>

_Skylla didn't remember how she got her bow back in her hands._

_Skylla didn't remember knocking Quinn off her feet so she could get a clear shot at the Deada._

_Skylla remembered that millisecond when she was too late and the Deada was too lucky. _

Quinn pushed herself out of the snow, adrenaline pumping veins creating an over whelming pounding in her ears. Her knife had been thrown from her grasp and she looked around desperately to find it.

"Quinn…"

The broken voice found her and all at once the adrenaline that had kept her going during the fight crashed. She was slow to turn around, slow to comprehend the blood soaked snow that a now weakly smiling Skylla was lying in. She was slow to stop the tears falling from her eyes, not that it mattered, because they found their way down her icy cheeks anyway.

She stumbled forward, completely aware that Death was looming in the shadows and yet the unfairness that youth supplied her with was the fact she thought she could save her friend. Skylla would give anything to be that blissfully unaware of the way the world worked and to have so much faith in fallen gods that she truly believed she could move mountains.

But the fact of the matter was she couldn't. Quinn struggled to push her hands over the gash in Skylla's neck which was pumping blood that leaked through green fingers. Skylla watched Quinn with dulling eyes and remembered her days back in the workshop being measured and trained so one day she could protect Olympus, stand at the feet of Hades up in the throne room and in front of all the other gods be able to proudly represent what Hephaestus had spent so much of his time creating. The perfect warriors, born of both monster and mortal who were so completely faithful to the gods that that alone drove them their whole lives so one day…they could die and be forgotten.

That had been Skylla's reality since the day she was born. That had been her reality, and Misty's and Candy's and Apophis' and Lykaon's and Quinn's even though the last had no idea the greatness she was designed for. That had been the reality of these creatures, the protectors of the Capital of the Western Civilization since the day the gods had decided that maybe they, in all their godly glory, may not be enough to protect Olympus. Their reality since Zeus had told Hephaestus with the consent of all the Olympians that he begin experimenting.

Skylla wasn't even sure how many of them there were but she knew Kronos knew, and that they had been hunted down. Children, who had no control of their own fate and what they had become who were sought after, captured and killed because of the threat they could pose. Children who had the awful habit of finding each other, clumping up and staying together in groups that just made them easier to find.

And Skylla tried to find the words to explain all of this to Quinn but she couldn't.

She could barely find the strength to find the black crystal necklace in her pocket and pull out her hand just enough for Quinn to see it before she, Skylla Kat Hydra, Protector of Olympus, Guard of Hades, had no more strength left.

With one final breath she looked Quinn in the eye, smiled freely with ripped bandages floating in the breeze around her and whispered:

"Find us, Quinn. Save us."


	8. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer: I do not own PJO**

"It really all started about, I'd say thirty years ago. The gods were getting anxious. More and more they had been starting to realize how much faith people had that the Titans could not be defeated, and yet they had. They needed a backup plan. Something stronger than heroes. Perhaps the monsters they were killed by every day. Or, even better yet, what if they could find a way to combine the best of both of them? Oh, and they could be specificly designed to match up to specific gods. But you have to find a way to mix their genetics. Easy fix: tell Hephaestus to pull off another thought to be impossible creation. He didn't let them down. Twenty-seven years ago the first group of these guards were born. There were originally seven. Almost immediately they were deemed unacceptable and forgotten by the gods. Seven years after them marked the beginning of a new era. It began with Skylla, whose design was based off of Medusa. From there, Hephaestus took inspiration from monsters from every century and story. Misty's based on the Hyperborean Giant. But then, there are people like you and me. We didn't have a base. We had a purpose. I was meant to be a spy. I can blend, as you know. And you, you're a healer, Quinn."

Quinn looked over at Candy's nostalgic gaze. The sun light was weak in the winter air and it did nothing to warm her what-so-ever. She was hunched up next to Candy and swathed in a very over sized black sweatshirt that she had borrowed from Nico. The hood was pulled up on her head but it was too big, like the rest of the sweatshirt. It kept her pretty warm but the cold still found its way in. She tried tucking her knees into the torso, staying balanced on the rotting old log and pulling her arms out of the sleeves but the wind was biting. The whole time Candy was telling her story Quinn was battling the cold. Candy seemed fine. Or maybe she was so wrapped up her story she didn't notice.

"Healer?"

"Yeah," Candy replied as if it should've been obvious. She reached into Quinn's hood and somehow managed to yank Quinn's arm back out into the sleeve. Candy twisted her hand and traced one of the lengths of stitches on Quinn's palm.

Candy pulled out her knife and drew it across her own palm. She pressed it to the stitches and Quinn felt a temporary sense of grim relief at the warmth. As the red flowed freely onto Quinn, she closed her eyes. There was something almost therapeutic about the feeling of the foreign blood on her skin. It made the area around the stitches feel so calm, almost as if they were fading. She wanted to sigh, to react, to do anything, but the energy it would've taken to open her mouth and make her voice play out was being used on the serene sensation in her hand.

Her eyes flew open in panic. She continued to stare at her hand, at the new angle Candy had contorted their hands. If she looked just right, there was no cut on Candy's hand anymore. There was blood but nothing was trickling out right then. After a few more seconds Candy wiped her hand on the worn fabric of her black jeans and presented the red tinted skin to Quinn. It was perfect; no cut, no scar, no evidence it had ever been injured other than the reminisce of crimson. Quinn immediately averted her attention to her own bloody hand and noticed no difference in her own flesh. She looked up at Candy, hoping the older girl had some kind of answer.

Candy shrugged.

"Healer," she said simply. They spent the next several minutes in silence, Candy watching Quinn looking at her hand.

"And, there's one other thing," Candy murmured quickly and nervously. She wasn't sure if she should even tell Quinn the other part. She was a curious girl. Somehow, she would take it and twist it into a reason to leave for the city. The broken city that had been home to so many of both their families before they were trapped there, up in the mountains in the middle of winter because neither of their families had been enough. The city that Candy knew for a fact was so much better off for some of the mortals. But for the most part, life was horrific for everyone who had survived this far. It didn't matter if you were a refugee on the run or a person in the city who only wished they could run. Bottom line was you fought to survive, it just mattered how much you wanted to survive.

"What?" Quinn asked with so much excitement Candy's heart convulsed. She didn't need to know, but she deserved to know. Candy couldn't decide which one meant more.

"There's two things actually," she said with a defeated sigh. "Good or bad first?"

"Bad."

_Well, that's kinda both of them,_ Candy thought. "Okay, well. By now, you know your parents aren't really your birth parents…"

Quinn nodded.

"And, you know that Hephaestus needed mortals to begin with creating, right?" Another nod. "So, for a long time he messed with the DNA of an embryo. Like, before they were even born. But, about twelve years ago he decided it might be better to work with people who had already been born. I don't know why he did. I wasn't born like this, Quinn. And you weren't either."

As she began explaining this to Quinn, Candy wouldn't look her in the eye. Quinn was serious again, completely focused on Candy.

"I was, let's see, seven when he started working on me? My mother just gave me away. She was a clear sighted mortal, you see. I was completely mortal at the time. She had somehow caught wind of what Hephaestus was doing and she didn't want me so she just… Anyway. When I was there, he was working on another little girl, maybe two months old. While he was screwing with my genetics and pickling me in every potion ever, he was going the same to her. When he was done with me, I didn't have my black hair or my brown eyes. And when he was done with her, she didn't have her white skin and black hair. She had green skin and purple hair. And, she just had stitches everywhere," Candy tossed Quinn a knowing look. Quinn sat in the quiet winter air, her blood running cold from the pure insanity of what Candy had just told her. Candy sat, mostly prepared to take whatever abuse was boiling in Quinn's mind.

"I…I had black hair?"

Candy pushed back slightly, trying to get a better look at the faint smile on Quinn's face.

"Yeah. Yeah, you did."

Quinn smiled a little wider and looked down, tracing the seams of her sneakers. Candy took a deep breath and closed her eyes.

"You still can," she said quickly. She looked Quinn's expression carefully. Had she gone too far?

"What?"

Candy dug into her jacket pocket and pulled out the thin silver chain, gathering it in her palm. The black crystal sat perfectly in the nest of silver. The same necklace Quinn had thrown into the snow at Skylla's funeral. The same necklace Misty had carefully picked up and defrosted. The same necklace that had given Skylla a false identity, even if for a little while.

"The Venus stone, one of Hephaestus' greatest gifts to us. It's meant to create its own Mist, to let everyone, even those who can see through the mist, see what you're mortal side looks like. As long as it's near someplace where it can be close to a strong blood source, like the neck. Pretty, isn't it?"

Quinn eyed the necklace with something close to embarrassment. A snow flake fell and landed so softly on her cheek. As it melted, Candy pushed back Quinn's hood and pulled the chair over her soft, unnatural hair. Quinn kept her eyes closed, afraid that the stone wouldn't work as Candy had said and her hope would come crashing down. Afraid the stone would work and the face she had some to know would be lost in memories.

"Oh my gods..." Candy whispered

Quinn opened her eyes to look at her. And when she did, the familiar curtain of hair fell in her peripheral vision. But, it was black. And the bridge of her nose, it was fiercely pale. Porcelain, pale skin just a few shades darker than the snow that was starting to flurry down. Wide eyed, she gave Candy a look that begged for a response.

Wide eyed, Candy looked back into those big, gold eyes that hadn't changed a bit.

Wide eyed, Kronos clenched his fist tight around Backbiter, staring into a mirror at his gold eyes which had a worrisome amount of green fighting their way back.


	9. Four Years Later

**Disclaimer: I do not own PJO or Who am I to Say by Hope**

"Quinn, darling! Come in here!"

"Coming, Julia!" Quinn hollered back, ducking under the thatch wood entrance of the hut and greeting her Aunt Julia with a smile. Julia smiled back, looking at her sixteen year old niece. Her charcoal black hair flowed to her lower back. A long length of dark side bang covered her left eye which resonated gold. Her pale skin reminded Julia of her own lover, Nico. The girl even wore one of his age old sweatshirts. Her black jeans were worn and frail, but so were everyone's.

"Could we hang these for me?"

"Yeah," Quinn answered enthusiastically. She took the woven basket of sodden clothes out of her aunt's hands and left the small hut. As soon as the spring sun met her face her smile faded.

"Quinn, darling! Come in here," Quinn impersonated in a shrill, nasally voice that sounded nothing like Julia.

"Coming, Julia. I just live to serve you, you know that don't you? I absolutely love, love, love you! Why don't I kneel at your feet and kiss the ground you stand on you bitch," she continued to mutter in frustration.

"Nee-Nee, what's a bitch?"

Quinn jumped at the small voice behind her. She turned to see three year old Bianca staring up at her with big, dark brown eyes. Quinn cursed under her breath and picked up a damp and now dirty shirt from the ground.

"A bitch is something we don't tell mommy or daddy, okay? Our secret."

"Like whore?"

"Exactly like whore. You're a smart little girl, Be-Be."

"I know," Bianca answered. Quinn chuckled.

"And humble, too. You really did it, Uncle Nico," she murmured. She continued to hang the clothes on the old line outside the hut occasionally lifting Bianca up so she could help. It didn't take her long to realize none of her stuff was in the basket.

"Alright, Julia. You want to play that game, eh?"

She marched back into the hut where Julia was leisurely weaving yet another basket. One of a hundred she had already made and never used.

"Um, Aunt Julia? You didn't wash any of my things."

Julia looked up at her straight faced but the annoyance in her eyes wasn't hidden at all. She smiled fakely.

"Well, dear. Last time I didn't wash them right so I figured I'd let you wash your own clothes. You know, so you could do them the way you liked."

"Well, last time you washed my stuff in a muddy puddle."

"I wasn't feeling good, honey. And it's so far down to the river…"

Quinn's eye twitched and her smile was so forced it tasted acidic.

"Oh, well. I give you permission to wash me stuff again, I guess."

"No, no. That's okay dear. I wouldn't want to upset you again."

"Okay."

She pivoted and walked away, Bianca in tow.

"Bianca! You get back in here," Julia hollered.

"Be-Be, I have a game. Let's play the 'I Can't Hear Mommy' game."

Quinn walked away with her little cousin hoping to the gods that if she kept walking she and Bianca could get far, far away from her aunt.

Even as she stood, miles away from the hut where Nico and her mother and Julia were no doubt eating dinner, Bianca wrapped in Quinn's sweatshirt, she prayed that maybe she was far enough.

But eventually they had to go home. Eventually Julia got her chance to scream at Quinn while Nico watched his niece with a look of disappointment, something that hurt more than the blood in her ears from Julia. Eventually Quinn yelled back, her voice carving their way into everyone's mind like a sharpened blade being sliced into them until she stormed out of the room in a blind, maddening fury.

It was then Julia decided to put their plan into action.

She walked out to the river where at night Deada were everywhere. There were creatures there even worse than the Deada. She walked right up to the taller one, the moonlight only just outlining his figure, a hard look in her eyes.

"It's time," she said, her voice just as hard.

"Hmm? So soon? I would have thought you would try to save him."

She shook her head, glaring at the sly smirk the girl gave her.

"What's this? Lover boy has to be taken down too?"

"Shut up, Maria," Julia hissed.

"And what about your girl, huh? Is she to be taken too?"

"I said shut up you insignificant dog," Julia said, louder.

The girl's eyes darkened, her smile fading.

"Remember who you're talking to, _girl._ You think I'm above killing you? You think father would care," she asked quietly.

"Enough, Maria. Julie, when do we begin?"

Julie forced her eyes to the man, her instincts screaming their warnings not to look away from the slim blonde girl.

"Whenever you like, My Lord."

He smiled slightly.

"In that case, Maria: ready the creatures."

Quinn grumbled angrily to herself. She cursed her stupid 'aunt', her stupid family, her stupid life. Everything in the world made her want to scream. The scene that had played out earlier was a weekly occurrence. Julia does something, Quinn responds, Julia does something, Quinn screws up, Julia yells, Quinn wants to beg Nico to leave Julia whose voice is so loud Quinn could go deaf but then Quinn yells and the world seems to slow down until second hand on the clock is forced forward and Quinn ends up at fault. She wiped furiously at the tears that fell, painfully aware she was still wearing Nico's sweatshirt. It was then her heart broke because she tried so hard to make everything work, to keep everyone happy but she knew she wasn't happy. She knew Annabeth wasn't happy. She knew it felt like she was standing in the ocean trying to keep everyone afloat on her shoulders while she was pushed under water and she was drowning faster than she was saving anyone.

"_Love of my life, my soulmate_

_You're my best friend_

_Part of me like breathing _

_Now half of me is left,"_ she murmured between sobs, trying to calm herself down by singing the lyrics to a song Candy had taught her so long ago. It was one of the saddest songs she had ever heard and Quinn had learned a long time ago sometimes she needed a sad song for a moments like that.

"_Don't know anything, at all_

_And who am I to say, you love me_

_Don't know anything, at all_

_And who am I to say, you need me._

_Color me blue I'm lost in you_

_Don't know why I'm still waiting."_

A shrill scream made Quinn's foggy eyes snap open, her lips parted mid-note. The tears still found their way down her face and she didn't doubt the light of the fire in the distance made them glisten as much as it heated her back. She turned slowly, eyes wide as she took in the inferno. Her family, her life up in smoke.

"Mom? Uncle Nico! BIANCA!" She shouted, murmuring at first in confusion and screaming as she took off running to help.

The wooden huts were burning too easily. The smoke of it just added to the tears. She forced herself forward, relying on the sound of shrieks of surprise and pain to be her guide. Her eyes were squeezed tight as she stumbled forward, dodging areas where the heat was too painful.

There was a sound just over the scream of the fire. It was a hissing like steam only steam was a friendly sound compared to this. Quinn pried her eyes open and squinted as she looked for the source.

"Quinn! QUINN!"

She whipped around, completely disoriented. She saw, Misty? Candy? Both of them were fighting darkness. Quinn was dazed, the smoke getting to her head.

"Get out of- HELP!"

She coughed harshly, different voices scrambling in her head and getting all mixed up. Up and down became the same thing, left and right were lost in the flames.

But, Quinn was a warrior. She was screwed up and perplexed but she found her way forward. It was refreshing to know her brain was still connected to her head. Ten minutes in the smoke had left her doubting what parts of her body still worked.

You wouldn't have been able to tell that by looking at her. She walked forward calmly, freaking out on the inside but still determined. That's what Maria thought when she saw the brunette through the smoke and madness. A grin spread out over her face.

The man saw her race away from the people they had already captured. As he watched her, he couldn't help but pity the soul she got her hands on.

Quinn was fighting to keep consciousness when a blonde, blue eyed girl leapt in front of her. She watched her wearily, sleep seeming so comfortable at the moment.

"And where do you think you're going?"

The girl's voice was cold and sick, like the sound of murder. Quinn's adrenaline pumped thinker in her veins, enough that the screams returned to her ears and the roar of the fire was even more deafening.

She ducked the girl's blade, a sword that looked like two metals forged into one, sickening sword sharp enough to kill ten men in one swipe in the right hands. And Maria was confident she had the right hands.

She lunged forward, slashing and cutting at the brunette. But her frustration only grew as the girl dodged and jumped managing to avoid every strike Maria brought down.

Quinn stumbled over her own feet, catching herself on her outstretched hand just long enough for the blonde to gracefully slash the blade across her pale throat.

Maria savored the sound of the other girl choking on her own blood for a few seconds, watching the crimson dance down the girls skin and flicker in the light. But, her look of triumph changed to of of horror as she watched the flesh mold back together, twisting and meshing until there was no gash, no slice, no evidence of anything but the blood on the sword and her skin.

Quinn turned her head and spat a bloody mess onto the charred grass.

Maria grimaced in hatred as she backed up away from the monster. By then, he would have gathered everyone in town.

"You're all horrible creatures," she hissed before turning and meeting up with him and Julia, the Deada already transporting the prisoners back to the camp. Quinn watched her trying to ignore the taste of blood and the pain as she realized fully what was going on. She hit the ground, smoke finally filling her lungs to the point it was unbearable. The tattoo on the girl's upper arm was etched into her minds as she closed her eyes.

Kronos had found them.


	10. Goodbye

Hey, guys.

I'm sorry to say I've lost the inspiration to continue this story. I know where I want it to go but getting it there will take more time than I had originally anticipated. Maybe one day I'll decide to continue but that's only if I don't completely forget it.

Sorry if you liked it.

~ZTH


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